Buying one's dream home requires planning, funds, and these days, putting on an AI-enabled virtual reality (VR) headset. Realtors are increasingly providing customers an immersive experience, courtesy generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), mixed reality, and metaverse. For realty consultancy Anarock group, AI and machine learning (ML) are enabling predictive market analysis, facilitating virtual property tours, and improving property management through predictive maintenance.
More than half (56 per cent) of chief economists expect the global economy to weaken in 2024, with most saying the pace of geo-economic fragmentation will accelerate, according to the latest "Chief Economists Outlook" released on Monday at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report indicates that the global economic prospects remain subdued and uncertain. Challenges include tight financial conditions, geopolitical rifts, and the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
During 2023, the Indian real estate sector - both housing and commercial - witnessed buoyancy fuelled by demand, supply, and absorption, and the sector is banking on the upcoming Budget to keep the momentum going. Mumbai-based Sattva Group wants the government to focus on the critical pillars for long-term growth. The company emphasised on the infrastructure boom with increased allocation, lower goods and services tax (GST) rates, incentives for affordable housing and single-window clearance to fast-track projects and support liquidity.
Several food and grocery delivery firms witnessed their highest ever single-day orders on New Year eve, December 31. Zomato achieved a record-breaking number of orders on its app. The company carried out nearly as many orders on December 31 as the total for the equivalent day in the period from 2015 to 2020.
This shift is driven by a pursuit of a superior lifestyle and an innate desire to be grounded in an owned plot of land. Villas, situated within gated housing societies, have gained popularity as a property type, witnessing strong traction due to elevated aspirations and the need for more living space.
'Even for operational buildings, we are looking to smarten them in various ways.'
Bengaluru recorded the highest green building stock at 140 million square feet, followed by Delhi-National Capital Region at 74 msf, and Hyderabad at 72 msf for Grade A office buildings as of September 2023.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, is looking to expand its business with over 50 projects across major cities in India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The combined projects boast a development potential exceeding 51 million sq ft, according to a top executive. The Mumbai-based real estate major has completed the first phase of project developments in Male (the Maldives), and is gearing up for the second phase. It has also expanded its footprint in Sri Lanka and plans to add about 2 million sq ft. in Colombo.
The net leasing of Grade-A commercial office space in India will stagnate this financial year at 32-34 million square feet, with global uncertainties brewing caution among key tenant categories, according to the latest Crisil Ratings report. Major seven cities in India - Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR) and Pune - had Grade-A office space with an operational stock of around 705 million square feet as of March 2023. India's commercial office space is dominated by technology companies, with information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies occupying 42-45 per cent of the operational stock.
The story of Sahara India Pariwar founder Subrata Roy, who died in Mumbai on November 14 aged 75, is the stuff of movies - of a spectacular rise and an equally spectacular fall. Born in Araria, Bihar, Roy was 30 when he set up Sahara in 1978. He started with a capital of about Rs 2,000, a peon, a clerk and his father's Lambretta scooter in Gorakhpur, eastern Uttar Pradesh, writes Tamal Bandyopadhyay in his 2014 book, Sahara: The Untold Story. Sahara was not his first venture.
With the real estate sector witnessing robust demand, realtors are doling out freebies and offering a slew of attractive schemes to lure potential customers this festival season. "Developers are providing Amazon vouchers that go up to Rs 1 lakh, iPads, and flexible payment plans that propel customer excitement," said Angad Bedi, managing director at real estate company BCD Group. Bedi said customers have a mindset to go for a change during the festival season, and developers see it as an opportunity to combine it with long-term and practical offers that drive buyers to close in on a deal during this period.
At 5 per cent, Mumbai is likely to witness the highest rise in residential prices in 2024, a report released on Wednesday said. New Zealand's Auckland will also see a price rise of 5 per cent. According to real estate consultancy Knight Frank's "Prime Global Cities Index", improving gross domestic product (GDP) figures, Mumbai's relative value and investment in infrastructure will be the prime influencers in pushing prices higher for the luxury housing market in the city.
Advertisements of charitable organisations and crowdsourcing platforms must not disrespect the dignity of the beneficiaries by showing their graphic images, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) said in its guidelines for charitable causes released on Thursday. Additionally, these ads must disclose how much of the raised funds would be used as fee by the platform, it added. Acknowledging that crowdsourcing platforms provide reach through ads and organic posts to beneficiaries by helping them tap potential donors, Asci said: "There have been some concerns about ads that create donor distress through the use of images that may be too graphic."
The sale of mid-segment homes in India has overtaken affordable ones in the first half of calendar year (CY) 2023, a report released on Tuesday showed. It is despite the increase in residential prices in all the major cities in India. The share of premium homes has also gone up during the period.
The demand for flexible office space is emerging as India's top short-term portfolio strategy, as 47 per cent of companies want to increase its use over the next 12 months, according to a survey by property consultant CBRE. Flexible office space is a workspace designed to provide employees with a variety of different places and ways to work. These spaces can be easily modified to fit the needs of any new project or role.
More than 70 per cent of Indian youth aged between 15 and 29 can't!
The number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in India is expected to rise 58.4 per cent in the next five years from 12,069 in 2022 to 19,119 in 2027, a report by property consultancy Knight Frank said on Wednesday. In its "The Wealth Report 2023", Knight Frank said that the number of Indian UHNWIs, with a net worth of $30 million or above, fell 7.5 per cent in 2022 due to economic slowdown, rate hikes, appreciation of the US dollar and geopolitical uncertainties. Globally, the number of UHNWIs fell 3.8 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021.
Out of all the reported digital payment frauds in India, over half (55 per cent) were United Payments Interface (UPI)-related, a new report released on Tuesday revealed. Another 18 per cent are card related, 12 per cent are related to internet banking and nine per cent are from phishing calls. Most of the UPI-related frauds, however, have a low ticket size.
The average salary hike of top-paid chief executive officers (CEOs) in four countries, India, the USA, the UK and South Africa, was 9 per cent, but the workers in these countries saw their salary dip by 3.19 per cent, an analysis by Oxfam on International Workers' Day on May 1 showed. Based on data from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and government agencies, the analysis also showed that workers in these countries worked "for free" for six days last year because their wages lagged behind inflation. One billion workers in 50 countries took an average pay cut of $685 in 2022, a collective loss of $746 billion in real wages, compared to if wages had kept up with inflation, it said.
The housing inventory overhang in the top seven cities in India stood at a five-year low of 20 months at the end of the January-March quarter, data from real estate consultancy Anarock showed on Monday. It was the highest at 55 months in the quarter ending December 2020. The inventory overhang is the amount of time it would take to sell the current housing listings in an area. A lower overhang denotes higher demand in a particular area.
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